Formula 1 championship leader Oscar Piastri bounced back from a near-elimination in SQ2 to take a crushing pole for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix sprint race.
Piastri has looked like the faster McLaren driver at Spa since the earliest laps of practice, but things almost came undone in SQ2 when he was penalised for a track limits offence and then almost eliminated as his underwhelming second lap was bettered by a host of midfield cars.
Having scraped through by less than a tenth, Piastri restored order with an impressively fast time on soft tyres in SQ3, claiming pole by almost half a second from Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Lando Norris was fastest in SQ2, but ended up only third on the grid, 0.141s down on Verstappen, while Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with its revised rear suspension claimed fourth on the sprint grid.
The rest of the top 10 was filled by a group of six midfield cars that made unlikely progress to SQ3 thanks in part to extreme track evolution in the dying moments of SQ2.
Esteban Ocon’s Haas won the battle to be best of the rest with the fifth fastest time in SQ3, impressively lapping within three tenths of Leclerc and almost two tenths clear of Carlos Sainz’s Williams.
Ollie Bearman’s Haas, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls and Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber rounded out the top 10, with Bearman, Gasly and Hadjar covered by just 0.114s in what effectively amounted to a one-lap shootout on the single set of soft tyres allocated to each driver for SQ3.
Piastri barely survives in SQ2 as Russell falls
Enormous track evolution in the final moments of this session meant Piastri barely escaped elimination in SQ2 as that gaggle of midfield cars put themselves among the usual frontrunners with a single flying lap on their allocated set of medium tyres.
This meant Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull - running a lower-spec than Verstappen’s - the Mercedes of George Russell and both Aston Martins were eliminated when all four probably should have progressed to SQ3, certainly Russell and the Astons.
The first part of this session was just the two McLarens and Verstappen’s upgraded Red Bull trading blows, with Piastri initially fastest before losing his time to a track limits offence at Raidillon.
Verstappen began to show what the upgraded Red Bull is capable of by lapping two tenths faster than Piastri’s illegal lap, a time that eventually stood as the second fastest of this segment.
Norris eventually found enough time on his used set of mediums to go quickest by 0.171s from Verstappen, with Leclerc’s Ferrari third - but fourth through to ninth consisted of Ocon’s Haas, Bortoleto’s Sauber, Gasly’s Alpine, Bearman’s Haas, Sainz’s Williams and Hadjar’s Racing Bulls.
Piastri’s second flying lap following his track limits transgression was underwhelming - about four tenths off his illegal effort. But it was enough for him to scrape through to SQ3 in 10th place by just 0.041s.
Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls joined Tsunoda, Russell, and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in SQ2 elimination.
Russell blamed damage picked up from gravel thrown onto the track by his team-mate Kimi Antonelli in SQ1, while the Aston Martins were a surprise flop after both showing top-10 pace in SQ1.
Hamilton’s Ferrari eliminated in SQ1
Lewis Hamilton’s upgraded Ferrari failed to escape SQ1 after a messy session.
Both of Hamilton’s flying laps on the one set of medium tyres allocated were compromised, the first by an oversteer moment at Stavelot that left him only 15th.
A second attempt ended with a spin at the final chicane as the Ferrari appeared to lock its rear brakes, something Hamilton also complained of in practice.
"I’m massively frustrated,” Hamilton said. “A lot of work has gone in and to be there is not really great."
Hamilton ended up down in 18th, behind Alex Albon’s Williams and Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber - both of which were eliminated thanks to late improvements by Bearman’s Haas and Gasly’s Alpine.
There was a suspicion Bearman’s time was set while yellow flags were out to cover Hamilton’s spin, but the replays showed Bearman lifting off the throttle slightly before the braking zone, and anyway the time stood and so Bearman progressed to SQ2.
Franco Colapinto and Antonelli were the other two eliminated in SQ1, Antonelli after a massive spin through the gravel at Stavelot on his first flying lap, which cannot have done much for the state of the one set of tyres allocated to his Mercedes for this session.
He managed to set a time but ended up almost two seconds off Colapinto’s Alpine and slowest of all.
Provisional Belgian GP sprint grid:
1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3 Lando Norris (McLaren)
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
6 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
7 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
9 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
11 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
12 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
13 George Russell (Mercedes)
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
15 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
16 Alex Albon (Williams)
17 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
18 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
19 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
20 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
